Endnotes: What Would Young You Create?

In this issue, we talk with Caltech students who are exploring entrepreneurship through new programs, internships, and funding sources. What would 20-year-old you have created if given the opportunity?

I certainly would have done a start-up. As a student, I learned about entrepreneurship through the Caltech Entrepreneurship Club but never had a chance to try it for myself. Warren Buffett came to campus in late 1997 when I was a senior. He spoke at Beckman Auditorium and, as the president of the E Club, I had the opportunity to meet him and have dinner with him prior to the event. This event was one of the most unique experiences I enjoyed as part of the E Club. A program where you could start up a business with fellow students would have been a great way to explore entrepreneurship as a 20-year-old.
—Michael Michrowski (BS ’98) LOS ANGELES, CA

I would have written my first musical or opera 20-plus years before starting to write both in my 40s, with a paid and mentored path toward workshopping both in L.A. Of course, had I seized that sort of opportunity in my 20s, that would have required realizing that I was supposed to be a musician far sooner than I actually did.
—Cheryl Morganson (BS ’02) CHAMPAIGN, IL

I blundered into that opportunity when I was 20. I was chosen to be the business manager of the California Tech. I had enjoyed writing for the Tech, but the immediate incentive of being business manager was earning commissions for selling advertising. I learned a lot about things like balancing books, meeting deadlines, and publishing. A few years later, I got a job at a laser-industry magazine. A few years later, I started freelancing, and my business skills helped tremendously.—Jeff Hecht (BS ’69) NEWTON, MA

This is an easy one—the civilian scientist astronaut corps, which would of course let in women.
—Pam Wiedenbeck (MS ’74) ALTADENA, CA

I was given this opportunity at Caltech when the development office sent me and my two roommates to meet a Santa Monica-based benefactor who ended up giving us $2,000 to start our digital music company Con Brio. The result was the development of several revolutionary early all-digital music instruments, including the ADS 200 instrument [shown below]. My early Con Brio years led me to found and grow M-Audio, a music industry leader from 1990 to 2010.
—Timothy Ryan (BS ’78) PARIS, FRANCE

At the time (1979), I wanted to create tiny 100-mile-per-gallon cars to save people money and not use up the planet. It turned out that most people want bigger cars, which resulted in trucks being used as cars to circumvent the MPG standards applied to cars (the SUV phenomenon).—John Whitehead (BS ’81) DAVIS, CA

I, along with Michael Garet (BS ’69), Richard Neu (BS ’70), and dozens more Techers and Pasadena City College students wrote and performed A Game of Chance and The Castle in Beckman Auditorium to enthusiastic audiences. We rose above stereotypes of bookworms and slide rules. These were full productions with costumes, makeup, scenery, orchestra, songs, love, conflict, tears and smiles. We jumped at the opportunity and loved doing it.—Dan Nemzer (BS ’69) FORT LEE, NJ